Windows 8. It's slightly faster, uses less memory, has fast boot if you like that sort of stuff and is the future. You don't need the start menu. You don't need to use Metro. Just Win+D to get into desktop mode and everything is like before, and Win + typing for search; also, Win+X for the advanced menu.

Oh, and the antivirus is now integrated, no need for a separate download.

Keep your current WinXP PC the way it is and get another PC for your photography with Win7 Pro x64 and run Lightroom 4 on that. Get a good higher end IPS display for the photo pc. The Photo PC is just another tool.

Excellent idea. I've been tolerating Win 7 just to run LR 4. There has not been one positive thing I've gained with Win 7 but instead lots of things that annoy me. I'm seriously considering building a dedicated Win 7 photo PC while my main PC is XP.

Full Disclosure - I am in IT, I see and support many types of systems and OS versions. I used XP x64 as my main workstation up until a couple months ago. I still use it for some things (through an RDP session from my new Win7x64 workstation). I sympathize with folks that don't want to change. For those that the PC is just a tool, upgrading/changing the OS is a hassle. Still, please be aware that the time is nearing when all updates, support, etc are going to end for XP.

What this means is you will no longer receive updates for security, drivers, etc. The OS will still function but it will cease to exist as far as Microsoft is concerned.

Windows 7 is actually a great OS and it isn't that hard to become comfortable with. It performs better and much more reliable and secure. You would like it even more on a laptop. Lightroom or any other similar software is going to benefit from a 64 bit OS and at least 8GB of RAM, preferably 16GB. Just do it and don't look back. It's not that big of a deal. Then after you are comfortable with Win7 on the Photo PC, start deciding about your main workstation. My suggestion on that is to go to buy.com or eCost.com and purchase a refurbished HP or DELL Core2Duo workstation PC with Win7 Pro for about $250. I would suggest to stick with Intel Core2 or i Series CPU + Chipset and away from AMD or Pentium 4. Here's a good example... http://tinyurl.com/aza9qt5

How did it cause you pain and suffering? I have 7 windows 7 pc's plus the new Windows 8 DELL XPS I bought a month ago. I did buy Start 8 for $4.99, and now its like Windows 7 as far as the UI goes. I like the quick launch like XP had, and thats restored the same way as it is in Windows 7. Windows 8 does take a couple of hours to figure out, I had to research GPT Drives in order to clone the oem hard drive to my SSD, and learn how to close a program, but its all Windows 7 underneath, except its a bit faster and some issues seem to be smoothed out.

+1 for Win7 Prof.Edition on a 64bit PC.Win8 is only of interest if you plan to buy a touchscreen so you can handle your PC with fingertips like an tablet PC or your mobile phone. Win8 comes with 2 surfaces... the new one for the fingertips and the one more or less unchanged from Win7. LR,PS,PSE or other software will never be used in the fingertipps surface, there only seperatley programmed "Apps" like on mobile phones will run.

if you feel to need the fastboot feature from win8 you can install your win7 on a SSD disc (or SSD disc RAID1) so booting will also be faster than with normal harddrive.

Windows 8 is a reaction to the device-comprehensive iOS and Mac OS - from phone to tablet to laptop to desktop. All have a similar look and feel. Apple has been moving in this direction for quite some time, step by step. Microsoft tried to do it all at once to play catch-up, and has had lack-luster acceptance of Windows 8. Microsoft will keep improving it and eventually work out the issues many people have with the Win 8 UI.

Under the UI, Win 8 is much the same as Win 7. However, Microsoft often releases software with bugs or other issues, so it is best to wait a year or more to upgrade to a new Microsoft OS. I usually don't bother upgrading the OS on an existing machine except for service packs.

If you have a current PC that did not come with Windows 8, I suggest Windows 7. If you are building your own machine, again I suggest Windows 7. Windows 7 will have drivers for all current software and hardware, and manufacturers will continue to support Win7 for a few years or more. You will also have more success finding drivers for older devices for Win7 than Win8.

If you are buying a new machine, use the OS that comes with it. (Likely Windows8) The OS that comes with the machine has all the proper drivers and has been tested together with the hardware and will be supported by the manufacturer. There are ways to get around the unwanted touchscreen UI of Win8 so it feels more like Win7 as mentioned by other posters.

If you have to upgrade much of the hardware on your old machine, it is better to scrap it and get a new machine. The concept of being able to indefinitely upgrade an older machine is false. Maybe some memory or a new hard drive at some point. Much beyond that and you get into compatibility issues because your machine is too old and doesn't properly support the new gear (i.e. graphics cards, etc.) that you are trying to put into your machine. It is too costly and ultimately a poorer solution to upgrade everything.

I ultimately went and built a dedicated Windows 7 PC for my lightroom and photoshop last summer. I designed this set up just for photo editing. This is not as expensive or as difficult as you may think, and you get considerbly more machine for the dollar spent than going with a Dell, HP, etc. ( If you want the components list I used, message me directly. I did a lot of research prior to building out the machine.)I use a laptop for my daily use machine. I use dropbox for the occasional file swapping between machines.

XP is dead. Most anything you buy today - either software or hardware - will no longer support XP. It is definitely time to upgrade.

Wow, lots of thoughts and ideas. Just for the record, I went with a dual boot XP/Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit system. XP will allow me to still use some hardware and software that I have that is only comptatable with XP and 7 will allow me to go forward.

I love 7 so far and I even upgraded to 16gb of DDR3 ram. (I only had 2gb before) My machine flies now. I will only use XP when I need to use hardware or software not compatable with 7, but I have been able to get about 98% of my stuff to work with 7. I love the feel of 7, it's a fantastic upgrade to XP.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and responces!

D

« Last Edit: March 21, 2013, 09:43:22 PM by Richard8971 »

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Canon 6D, 5D2, 7Dv2.03, 50D, 40D, T1i, XTi...XT (& lenses, flahses), various powershots... You get the idea... I have a problem.

Wife shoots Nikon, D7000, D7100, (lenses and flashes)... we constantly tease each other that our cameras are better than each others!

Desktop operating systems End of mainstream support End of extended supportWindows XP April 14, 2009 April 8, 2014 Windows Vista April 10, 2012 April 11, 2017 Windows 7 January 12, 2015 January 14, 2020

If your hardware supports it go to Windows 8If your hardware does not support it... go and buy some proper one.You are mature enaugh to desire LightroomYou are serious enough to spent your time on Canon Rumors which deals with future technology that is not even in the shelves.It would be a flawed logic to treat your picture and the related workflow with past technology. Or to teach yourself the usage of an OS that is surpassed by two or three newer versions.

By the way the next Version of Windows OS (let us call it "Blue") is at milestone 1 in it's development that means you will see it in shelves probably before the summer 2014.

Win8 + the $5 Start8 program is a winner. Recently built a new PC and purchased a system builder copy of Win8 Pro and it really couldn't have been easier (as an aside, the system builder version is for home builders, not professional builders, they'd get a volume discount copy).

Windows 8 works fine with Lightroom 4.x I've never update my lightroom.W8 will take you a couple of days to get used to, but just consider the w8 interface as a bigger version of the old w7 start button and you will be fine. You can use your mouse to scroll the programs or just start typing if you did that in w7 start. Loads of apps like Outlook and Lightroom still go back to the old desktop you are used to.